How I got my first book deal (and lit agent)

hint: check your spam folder

For those who might be unaware, besides being a freelance writer, I am a published author. I wrote Friendship Signs, for Adams Media, which was published in 2018, and Joy in the Stars, collaboration with BuzzFeed for Running Press, which was published in 2021.

If it doesn’t seem obvious by their titles alone, yes, they are IP projects about astrology. The first centers around friendships and astrology, and the second focuses on self care and astrology.

What is IP? IP is short for intellectual property. In the publishing world it means that someone else owns the idea, and you're writing it. In my case, the publishers own the ideas my books and they commissioned me to write them.

Photo by Martin de Arriba on Unsplash

I didn’t even know this type of thing existed before it happened to me, but it makes sense. There are fiction IPs like those tied to major media franchises, and there are non-fiction IPs, like the books on gaming, relationships, or, yes, astrology.

So how did I get my book deal?

Well, basically I got it from writing about what I liked, and working my tail off as a freelance writer.

I’ve been writing freelance since 2010 and full-time since 2013. I’m also someone who’s been interested in astrology since I was a teenager. I noticed astrology was trending a lot in 2016 and so I started to pitch my ideas to publications. Soon I started writing about astrology for HelloGiggles, and much to my surprise, in the summer of 2018, I found an email in my SPAM folder from an editor at a publishing house who was interested in me writing an IP project for them. I didn't even know what IP was! I didn't even know editors contacting writers about books was a thing.

Honestly it was the biggest blessing from the Universe because, while writing about astrology wasn’t my dream project for my first book, I knew that I had been given a huge gift. I mean, I didn’t have to DO anything to get a book deal (other than, you know, putting in 10,000 hours of writing for publications) and I knew it was the sort of opportunity that could get me a foot in the door in the publishing industry, aka snag a literary agent.

l had about a week to confirm the deal. I knew it was now or never to leverage it and hopefully find an agent. I had a short list of agents who I was following on Twitter with the mindset of, “Once I finish my manuscript, I’ll query these people.” Eric Smith, at P.S. Literary Agency, was at the top of my list. I don’t know why but there was something about his vibe that I liked, and call it intuition, but I guess I just knew he was the guy

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So I sent out an email to him (and one other agent from a different agency) and right away he got back to me. I basically signed with him within a week, and I was then able to turn over my book deal, and all the contract stuff that I didn’t fully understand, to him. Within two weeks, I had written my very first book proposal (something I’ll get into at another time), signed with my first agent, and signed my first book contract.

When the Universe moves, it moves fast!

At the time Eric was kind enough to remind me that I was basically giving him a commission that he didn’t exactly earn as the book deal was given to me, but I said I didn’t care because I knew I was playing the long game. I wanted a career as an author, and I had just skipped a major part of the process — which is querying agents! Plus, he did help me with my contract and I was grateful for his expertise. It worked out! Within a 18 months we worked on another book together, and now we are currently tweaking my first book proposal of my own creation!

So how can this post benefit you? Well, if you dream of being a published author, I would suggest to continue creating. Whether it’s writing, blogging, podcasting, etc., keep doing it and make sure you’re creating and writing and talking about things you genuinely love and are passionate about. Put them out in the world however you can and see where the Universe might take you. We don’t have control about the HOW or the WHEN but we can control our WHY.

And, always, ALWAYS check your spam folder.

You can buy my books here: http://briannehogan.ca/books

If there’s something else you would like me to cover about writing and publishing, drop me a message in the comments below.